How Obama Is Giving Trump The Gift Of Indefinite Detention

When he takes office, Donald Trump will have the power to indefinitely detain… anyone he wants. And if you thought the most alarming part about that sentence was the fact that Donald Trump is the one in power, then you’re part of the problem.

Thanks to section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act, the U.S. government has the power to enforce the indefinite military detention of Americans.

Thanks to Obama, this provision was signed into law with the 2012 NDAA—you know that huge, incredibly important act that is signed into law every year right around Christmas.

It wasn’t just Obama—Both the Senate and the House of Representatives had to sign off on the act before it reached his deck. Which means that not only did our congress sign off on giving the president the power to indefinitely detain American citizens in 2011, but it continued to reaffirm that power by keeping that provision in ever act since then!

When he signed the provision into law, Obama promised that he would never use it… and yet despite his criticism of Trump, he kept the provision when signing the 2017 NDAA, and handed it right to Trump.

Now, you may be asking, how does Congress justify this insane power? Well, they do it by using the 2001 Authorization of Military Force. You know, the same AUMF that was initially created as justification to go after anyone the U.S. government thought was associated with al-Qaeda. Now, it has been manipulated to include any individuals that the government thinks are associated with ISIS.

Basically, if the U.S. government determines that there’s a chance you might be involved with al-Qaeda or ISIS, they can legally arrest you, and send you off to Guantanamo Bay with no trial whatsoever, even if you’re an American citizen.